


A Birthday

by Just_a_kid_at_heart



Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gotham’s Writing Workshop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 09:20:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15627609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_a_kid_at_heart/pseuds/Just_a_kid_at_heart
Summary: Sometimes you find family in unexpected places and ways.





	A Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first thing I wrote for this fandom, and kinda ever, it was already posted over on tumblr so you might have seen it there. If you haven’t see it I hope you enjoy, if you have then I hope you enjoy revisiting it.
> 
> As background, this was an idea for Gotham’s Writing Workshop that was supposed to be quick and short and grew into a monster.

Faith knew she needed to stop crying, she knew that she was being silly, but she just couldn’t seem to stop. 

It had all started when her father had brought her and her siblings to the store to look for presents for her mother’s birthday, and she had just found the perfect one. Inside the bright case sparked the prettiest bracelet. It was gold and and had a beautiful turquoise stone dangling from the chain. She knew that was her birthstone, Mama and Da had given her a stone just like that on her birthday, and she loved it. She just knew that Mama would love this one the same way she loved hers. She might even love it more if she could find a way to put Bree and Willie’s birthstones on the bracelet too. The only problem was, that while she was distracted by this perfect gift for her Mama, Da had walked away and now she was all alone. She did not like being alone

“Bonjour, petite fille, es-tu perdu?”

Faith sniffed, she knew she was not supposed to talk to strangers, but she also knew that she was lost and that she needed help. Faith looked up at the boy. He wasn’t an adult, but she thought he still might be able to help her. “What did you say?”’ She sniffled, trying to hold back her tears. 

Fergus chuckled, he usually started with French, it seemed to charm the ladies, and help get him what he needed, but he should not be shocked that it did not seem to have an affect on one so you. “Apologies, I forget that I am not in France from time to time. I asked if you were lost?”

Faith smiled a little, feeling better, this boy seemed nice and like he wanted to help her, maybe it was okay to talk to him, even though she did not know him. “Yes, I lost my Da. I got distracted by that bracelet there, and then I lost him. He is really tall, and has bright red hair, his name is Jamie, and he probably has my little sister, Bree, and my little brother, Willie with him. Have you seen him?”

“No un petit, I have not, but I bet if we tell the lady behind the counter, she can help you find him.”

Faith and Fergus approached the counter as the sales woman was just finishing up with a customer. “Excuse me,” Faith interjected. “I’ve lost my Da, can you help me.” The sales woman, hearing a quiet voice, looked down and saw Faith. She came around the counter to help this lost little girl, forgetting herself and leaving the keys to the case on the countertop. 

Just as she was bending down to be on the same level as Faith, a very tall man with a toddler in one arm and holding the hand of another came rushing up. 

“Faith,” her father exclaimed, “there you are, I ran after your sister and the next thing I know, you are nowhere to be found. Dinna do that again. You know better than to run off, you are supposed to stay with Da.”

“I’m sorry, Da,” Faith sniffled, feeling like she was going to start crying again. “I saw the perfect present for Mama, and the next thing I knew you were gone. I dinna know what to do, and then this nice boy asked if I was lost, and helped be get the lady’s attention, and then you ran up.”

“I am just glad you are safe.” Jamie said smiling down at his daughter.

Seeing the family happily reunited, the sales woman started to return to behind the counter, only to notice a young boy attempting to steal a necklace from the case. Grabbing the boy by the arm, before he can make his way off with the necklace, the sales woman, walked back over to the little family. Thinking, wrongly, that this boy also belongs with them. “Sir, you really should try to control your children better. I just caught your son trying to swipe a necklace from our counter.”

Unsure of what to make of this statement from the saleswoman, since the only son he had he was holding in his arms, Jamie smiled apologetically at the saleswoman. “Aye, I’ll do my best to keep a closer eye on my unruly bunch.” He said as he winked unsuccessfully at his two girls, then turned to face the boy. 

“Well, lad,I just saved your butt, so you’d best start explaining what you were doing and where your parents are.”

“I do not need to tell you anything” Fergus exclaimed as he darted towards the front of the store.

Jamie sighed realizing there was not much that he would be able to do since he had no clue who this boy was. He realized he may have been a little abrupt, but he was still recovering from the frustration of bringing three children to a store and losing Faith. He would really need to bring Murtagh or another set of hands the next time he tried this. “Now Faith,” Jamie began, “What was this about the perfect present for your Mam?”

Faith beamed up at her father and pointed to the gold bracelet that had caught her eye and gotten her lost. “Why, that is very pretty, Faith, do you think your Mam would like it.” Faith nodded and told her father about the turquoise necklace from her birthday, and how she thought mama would love this bracelet, and then posed the question that she had been wondering about when she had first realized she was lost. “Da, do you think they can add more stones to the bracelet?” 

“I don’t know, we will have to asked. Why do you want more stones on the bracelet.”

“I was thinking that this one has my birthstone, but what if we added Bree and Willie’s too. I think Mama would like that even better.”

“I agree, let’s ask the sales lady and see if it can be done. Hold onto your sister and don’t let her run off, she seem to like hiding in the different clothing racks.”

\----------------------------------

Claire loved the days around her birthday, she always made sure that she took a few extra days off from the hospital around everyone’s birthdays to give everyone some extra special family time. Jamie, tried to do the same, but sometimes it didn’t work out, and today he was finishing up some last minute things before he was off as well. 

Claire had taken the kids to the park today, the girls absolutely adored anytime they could run wild and free, and Willie, though the youngest was just getting big enough to take advantage of some of the more enjoyable aspects of the park, though still with mommy watching closely. 

The girls had run off to play on the jungle gym, while Willie had pointed to the swings, as where he wanted to be. 

“Faith, Bree,” Claire called to the two girls, “I can see you from over here by the swings, if you want to play somewhere else, tell me first, and make sure you stay together.” Jamie had shared the little adventure they had in the store with Claire, so they were making sure to keep a closer eye on the girls, while still trying to giving them a bit of freedom. 

Although the park was not too crowded, they were also not the only ones there. The girls had been playing together just fine until a big kid came by and knock Bree off the jungle gym. Faith, seeing her little sister knocked to the ground, came over to make sure she was ok. 

“Bree, are you hurt?” Faith exclaimed as she rushed over to her little sister. She offered her hand to help her up off the ground. 

Always a tough child Bree recovered from the shock of the fall relatively quickly. “I’m ok.” She said as she started climbing up the jungle gym again.

Faith was impressed by her little sister, she wasn’t sure if she would have had the strength to just brush something off like that. Determined to not let that small stumble deter the fun she was having with her sister, she followed her up the jungle gym, or at least she tried. The same kid had come around again and this time knocked Faith down. 

Stirring up her courage, she couldn’t let this big kid get away with this. Faith brushed off the dirt and stood up. “Excuse me,” she exclaimed, still trying to be polite like her parents had taught her, “but it’s not nice to push other kids down.” 

“Really, and what are you going to do about it.” The big kid stated as he pushed Faith back down to the ground again. 

Faith hit the ground hard this time and scraped her hand on the ground. She was trying to be brave and brush this off, but she could already feel the tears coming to her eyes. Her hand really hurt, but Mama would know what to do. She would get Bree and then have her mother handle the situation. That is what school told you to do when you encountered a bully. 

But, before she could get off the ground, she heard another kid speak. “Pardon, but it is not very nice to push down a young lady.” She noticed that the bully was being confronted by another kid at the park, only this one she recognized, it was the same boy who had tried to help her at the store and then ran off after Da had yelled at him. She wondered what he was doing here, helping her again. 

At the same time Bree, rushed over to her sister, seeing her on the ground. “Are you okay, Faith? Why are you crying?”

“That big kid pushed me down and I scraped my hand.” Faith said as she showed her little sister the scrape on her hand. 

“Wait right here, I’ll go get Mama.” Bree yelled as she was running off towards the swings and her mother. “Mama!”

Faith turns her attention back to the two boys who seem to be staring each others down. She was not sure what was said while she was talking with Bree, but neither looked exactly happy. She was a little afraid that they will start punching each other. Before any fists could fly, her mother came rushing over with her little brother in her arms and Bree right on her heels. 

“Oh my little lamb, are you ok? Your sister rushed over and said that you were hurt. Show mama what’s injured.” Claire said as she bent down over her oldest daughter, placing her son on the ground next to her. “Bree, hold onto Wille’s hand and make sure he doesn’t run off.” 

Bree grabbed a hold of her little brother, who was not very happy to be taken from the swings. “SINGS! SINGS!” He kept shouting as he tried to pull away from his sister and run back towards the swings. 

“Lamb, why don’t you tell mama, what happened. Did you fall down?” 

“No Mama, I was just climbing on the jungle gym, when this big kid came over and pushed in front of me. I fell off. I wasn't hurt, but I had seen him do the same thing to Bree before, so I told him that he wasn’t being very nice, and then he pushed me down again. That’s when Bree came over and ran to get you.”

“Well, I think we will need to have a little talk with this boy.”

Having noticed an adult coming over and realizing that trouble may be coming his way, the bully had taken off from the park. But Fergus still stood by watching this mother helping her daughter. He doesn’t know what it is about this little girl that makes him want to help her. He could have just left her there crying in the store, and he could have just continued on his way when he saw the kid push her down, but something in him made him want to protect her. 

Standing up from tending her daughter, Claire, seeing that she was not seriously injured, tried to confront the situation at hand. “Now, you there, what’s your name? You know it is not very nice to push other kids around. Did you come to the park with your parents? I think we need to have a little chat together.”

Coming out of his reverie, and not wanting to be caught taking the blame for this situation, Fergus took off out of the park just as the other kid had. 

“Wait a minute,” Claire shouted after the boy.

“No, Mama,” Faith said trying to get her mothers attention, “he wasn’t the one who pushed me, he defended me.”

“Really?” Claire questioned.

“Yes, he’s the same boy who helped me in the store. I think he is nice, not like the other boy who pushed me down. Why did he run off Mama? Doesn’t he know that he did something good not bad?”

“I don’t know lamb, but why don’t we go to the car real quick and get a bandaid for your hand.”

\-------------------------------

“So, the same lad from the store, was there at the park today? And he helped Faith again?”

“That is what Faith said. I didn’t see the boy at the store, so I wouldn’t be able to tell for certain. He did take off when I started to ask about his parents, so there is that similarity.” 

“Hmm, so what do you think it is about them, that he doesn’t want to talk about them. Do you think something is wrong with them?” Jamie speculated to Claire as they sat down to discuss this second meeting with the same boy.

“No, he didn’t really seem like he had been hurt or anything.” Claire reasoned “Maybe he doesn’t have any.”

“An orphan? What makes you say that?” 

“I’m not sure Jamie, the look in his eye reminds me of the kids that come into the hospital from foster care or an orphanage. They are so unused to that loving attention of a parent, you can read on their faces how much they cherish it and wish they had it more often”

Jamie sighed as he wrapped his arms around Claire. “I know you wish that there was more that you could do. You still feel that loss of your parents, even though your Uncle took you in, you still feel the sting of being an orphan. But unfortunately we don’t know enough about his boy to find him, let alone help him somehow.”

Claire leaned back into Jamie’s embrace feeling the love of her husband and family, that she wanted to share with this lost little boy. “We will just have to say a little prayer of thanks for what he had done for Faith, and hope that he will be alright.”

\------------------------------

Although she had scheduled the day off, Claire found herself at the hospital in the following afternoon, she had received an emergency call about one of her patients. Everything had turned out fine, and although she was very glad about that, she was still a little annoyed to have to make a trip to the hospital and miss time with Jamie and the kids. 

She sighed as she made her way out of the ER, she had not felt truly like herself since last night after the discussion with Jamie about the boy in the park She just couldn’t shake the feeling that she needed to help him somehow. 

“Dr. Fraser!” An intern called as she was about to walk out the doors. “Do you have a minute, I was wondering if I could ask you a quick question, it’ll only take minute, I promise.” 

“Sure, what seems to be the problem?” Claire said as she peered into the little curtained off section the intern had just walked out of. 

“Well, you see I know what medically to do for the boy with his broken arm, but I can’t get him to tell me who his parents are and what them numbers are to give them a ring. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to call social services right away, or try to harder to find out who his parents are. I know you have children, so I thought you might have some good advice on getting kids to open up.”

Seeing that this was the boy from the park, and as answer to her prayers of wanting to help him, Claire told the intern that she would handle the case for the time being. “Why don’t you see if anyone else needs help.”

Claire entered with a small smirk on her face. “Hello, again. Remember me from the park. I’m Dr. Fraser.” She introduced herself. “It’s a little harder right now to run away when people start asking questions that you don’t like. How about we have that chat you ran away from yesterday?”

Blushing from embarrassment, Fergus tried to play it off and feigned ignorance as to what Claire was talking about. “A chat, you say. Have we met before? I think I would remember a beautiful lady such as yourself.”

“Oh, well if you don’t remember me, then maybe I was mistaken.” Claire said with a small laugh. “I had wanted to thank that boy for defending my daughter, but if you don’t remember that, then maybe I will just have to call someone else over to take a look at that arm. Who knows we might need to run some more tests and everything, you could be here all night.” 

Fergus shrugged. “That would not be so bad.” 

“A night in the hospital sounds good to you?” Claire said with surprise,”most people find any way they can to get out of here.”

Fergus paused before answering her question. He had had plenty of experience with adults who did not seem to care, but then he remembered the seen he had witnesses at the park with this woman, and her daughter, maybe, just maybe this one could be trusted. 

“I think, I think, maybe I would be noticed here.” Fergus uttered quietly, still unsure if he should be talking about this at all. 

Claire sat down on the bed next to Fergus. “Are you not noticed where you are staying now? And where is that?”

“You want to hear more about me?” Fergus questioned. As Claire nodded, Fergus proceed to tell her all about his time and struggles at the orphanage. He didn’t remember his parents really. He knew he was French and that after his parents died or left him, no one ever really provided him with the details, he had stayed a bit in a orphanage in France. He remembers being told one day that a nice couple had wanted to adopt him. They lived in Scotland, so he was sent there for everything to be finished, but once he arrived, they realized there had been a mixup, and that the couple had actually wanted a girl, so the adoption did not go through. Instead of sending him all the way back to France, he was sent to an orphanage here in Scotland, and that is where he had been ever since, still waiting to see if anyone would ever want him. 

“I am not wanted. Too old for most families, yet still too young to be thrown out on my own. It would maybe be better if they left me on the streets. I could make my own way, and would not have to feel the sadness when I am overlooked each time.”

“That’s quite the tale you have got there.” Claire started, “but I do think we have somehow looked one very important part of the story.”

“What is that?”

“Your name.”

Fergus feeling so comfortable with Dr. Fraser, never realized that he had not introduced himself. 

“How rude of me, madame, I am Fergus.”

“Just Fergus?” Claire questioned, feeling there was more to this story. “And if I call your social worker to tell her that you are here, she will know who I am talking about when I say Fergus?”

“Well, to them my name may be Claudel St. Germain, but that is not what I go by.”

“Oh really,” Claire laughed. “And why would that be?”

“You see, when I first arrived in Scotland, the other kids at the orphanage made fun of my French sounding name. Said it made me sound like a sissy. So I asked one of the workers in the orphanage for a strong sounding Scottish name, and they told me Fergus.”

“I think my husband would agree with you on that.”

“Dr. Fraser” a nurse said. “We need to take the boy up to get a cast put on his arm, do you have everything that you need from him?”

“Yes, just give me one more minute with him, and you can take him up.” Turning to address Fergus. “Now, unfortunately, I have to go call your social worker, because you won’t actually need to stay overnight in the hospital.” Fergus frowned at Claire, hoping that he would not have had to return to the orphanage that night. “But, I will make you a promise, that I will be waiting here for when you return, so I can say goodbye before you have to leave. Does that sound okay?”

“Oui.” Fergus nodded, as the nurse came back to take him to get his cast. He was glad that he would get to see Dr. Fraser one last time. 

\-----------------------------------

“Jamie, I am so sorry I am late for dinner.” Claire said as she rushed in to the kitchen of their home. 

“Is everything okay? Did something go wrong with your patient at the hospital?” 

“Actually, everything is completely fine with my patient. He is not at all why I am late. You will never guess who I ran into as I was leaving the hospital.” Claire stated as she began to fill Jamie in on what had happened. 

“Are you sure about this mo nighean donn? It is not going to be an easy thing to accomplish.”

“I’m absolutely sure.”

\-------------------  
Jamie woke early on Claire’s birthday. He had much to accomplish to make sure that this was the perfect day for his wife. Although the kids were more than excited to celebrate their mother on her birthday, they still had a little time before any of them would be stirring. He rolled over and kissed his wife awake. 

“Happy birthday, mo nighean donn.” Jamie said with his lips pressed against hers. “Are you ready for the best day ever.”

“Well, it is certainly starting out in the best way ever.” Claire exhaled as Jamie worked his way down her body. 

A while later, as Jamie noticed the time on the clock, he said, “I’d best be going to get one of your presents for the party. Plus I think our lad and lasses will be waking soon, all full of energy to wish that beloved Mama, a happy birthday.”

Jamie left the bed to dress for the day, once he returned he gave Claire one last parting kiss, and told her “I’ll be back before you and the kids finish breakfast.”

\------------------------------------

Faith had been up since 6:00, but she knew Mama and Da’s rule. You are not allowed out of your bed before the clock says 7:00, and you can’t come into Mama or Da’s room until after that and only if the door is open. Except for an emergency, and sadly she knew Mama’s birthday did not count as an emergency. 

She sighed. It was finally passed 7:00 on the clock, but when would Mama and Da open their door so that she could be the first to wish her mother Happy Birthday. She couldn’t wait until later in the day when she would be able to give Mama the present she picked out. 

Finally after what felt like an eternity, Faith saw her Da come out of the door. She got so excited that she jumped out of her bed, but by the time she got to there room she noticed that the door was still closed. She sighed and sat down in the hall. Surely Mama would not be too far behind Da. 

“Good Morning, little lamb” Faith looked up to see her mother at her bedroom door. “I thought I heard someone out in the hall. What are you doing up so early?”

Faith jumped up and hugged her mother. “Happy Birthday, Mama! I wanted to be the first one to wish you happy birthday.” 

“Thank you so much Faith, but I don’t know that you had to wake up so early to do that, you know how much your sister and brother like their sleep.”

Faith had always been the early bird of her children, so she really was not shocked to see her out in the hall this morning. Here youngest two children enjoyed their sleep. Although they were both full of energy and running around constantly when awake, once their head hit a pillow, they were out like a light. It would still be another half hour or hour before either of those two woke up, birthday or not. 

“Would you like to help me make breakfast, lamb?” Claire asked her oldest.

“Breakfast? Why are you making breakfast on your birthday?” Faith said as she gave her mother a puzzled look. 

“Well, you Da went to go pick up a special present for me this morning, so I said that I would get breakfast ready for everyone, so he wouldn’t be late. Does that sound ok?’

Still a little confused as to what was going on, Faith nodded and followed her mother downstairs to the kitchen. 

About 45 minutes later Faith and Claire had assembled a decent looking breakfast feast, with pancakes, eggs, sausage,and even some bacon too. Claire had gone back upstairs to get her two youngest out of their beds, and was just making her way downstairs with Willie in her arms, when she heard a small stramish from the kitchen. 

“Bree!” Faith exclaimed, “you can’t start eating until Mama gets here, you can’t eat until the birthday person is here.”

“But, Faith, I’m so hungry. Why can’t I just eat like any other day.”

“No, we have to wait for Mama, maybe Da too.” 

“What!” Bree yelled. “Where’s Da, did he have to go to work today? He can’t work today, it’s Mama’s birthday.”

At the same time both girls turned to the kitchen door as it opened to reveal their father. “Dinna worry Bree, I’m right here, breakfast can begin.”

From his perch in his mother’s arms Willie noticed an unfamiliar face behind his father. “Who that?” Willie asked his mother. 

Now noticing the extra person in the room, Faith exclaimed, “It’s you! But what are you doing here at our house now?”

“Can we eat yet?” Bree asked, trying to get everyone back on track to what she wanted. 

“In a minute, lovie.” Her mother said as she put Wille down in his booster seat. “First, your father and I want to introduce you to our guest today. His name is Fergus, and some of you might remember him from when you met him at the store and at the park.”

“Yes,” Faith exclaimed. “You ran away both time before I could say thank you for helping me. Thank you, you were my hero.” Faith smiled at Fergus, even more so when she saw the slight blush that was on his cheeks.

“Yes, I remember you too. Can we eat now that we know who he is?” Bree once again tried to get everyone’s attention back to the breakfast on the table. 

“Yes, Bree, you can dig in now.” Her father assented. 

While everyone was eating breakfast the children had lots of different questions for their parents and their guest as well. Jamie and Claire answered as best they could and let Fergus share as much of his story as he felt like with the young ones. 

After breakfast concluded, the children all ran upstairs to change out of their pajamas and into more appropriate clothes for the day. Jamie followed to make sure that they did not cause too much chaos in their rooms and to offer help if anyone need it. 

Fergus started clearing the table of the dishes, “You don’t have to do that Fergus, you’re our guest today.” Claire said. 

“It is no problem Dr. Faser, you and Mr. Fraser were kind enough to invite me into your home, the least I can do is lend a hand.” 

“Fergus, there is really no need for so much formality, you can just call me Claire and you can call Mr. Fraser, Jamie.”

“I will try.” 

\------------------------------------

All Claire ever really wanted was her birthday was just to spend the day with her entire family. This birthday had the added benefit of getting to bring some joy to Fergus, who hadn’t had much joy in his life till now. The trip to the zoo was fun for everyone in the family even Fergus who they had found out had never been to one before. Fergus seemed to just fit in perfectly to their little family. Willie although only 2, seemed to be able to notice a difference between Fergus and his sisters, and seemed more than happy to have someone new to play with. Bree was always the rambunctious one of the bunch, but Jamie and Claire had noticed that this little family outing seemed easier than previous ones, because neither of them had to chase after Bree. Fergus was always hot on her heels, and bringing her safely back to the group. The only one who seemed leery of him was Faith, maybe it was because she was the one he had interacted with before, or maybe it was because she realized she was no longer the oldest of the group, but whatever it was, Faith’s interactions with Fergus always held a bit of caution to them.

“Bree, I think you must be a monkey, the way you were climbing on everything at the zoo today.” Claire addressed to the group as they walked back into the house from their outing. “Thank goodness we had Fergus with us or you would have climbed right into the lemur exhibit.”

“It was no problem, Mrs. Claire. I did not want to see any of the little ones get hurt.” 

“Well, that was very responsible of you Fergus.” 

“Mama,” Bree asked, “is it time for cake and presents?” 

“I don’t see why not. Can you go get your father and Willie from upstairs?”

Bree ran upstairs calling for her father, while Claire went over to the kitchen to grab the cake from counter and set it on the table. 

As everyone gathered around the table, Willie shouted for presents so they decided to start with those. 

“Who wants to go first?” Jamie asked the children. “Faith, do you want to start? I know how excited you were with the gift you picked for your mother.”

Faith reluctantly went to grab her present for her mother. She had been so excited when they got the bracelet, because she thought that her mother would love it, but now she was not feeling so sure. She had listened to her parents and Fergus tell his stories and she could not imagine what life would be like if she were all alone and didn’t have her mama and da. It was scary enough when she got lost in the store and was alone. She knew mama and da were trying to include Fergus in their family, but right now Faith was about to give her mother a gift that included everyone except Fergus. Would Mama still like the bracelet even though there was not a stone for Fergus. 

Faith handed her mother the little wrapped box, and tried to muster at least a small small though her worry. 

“What’s wrong, lamb.” Her father asked, as he pulled his daughter into his lap instead of letting her retreat away from her mother. “I thought you were so excited to give your mother this gift.”

“I was, but now I am not sure if she will like it.” Faith muttered dropping her head into her father’s chest. “It might make Fergus sad, and I don’t want to make anyone sad.”  
Fergus gave Faith a confused looked. “Why would a present for you mother make me sad?”

Deciding to try to clear up any confusion, Claire opened the present, to see if they could get to the root of what was troubling Faith. “Oh, Faith this is beautiful, I love it, but why did you think that a bracelet would make Fergus sad?” 

“Because he doesn’t have a stone on the bracelet like everyone else.”

Although Claire had looked at the bracelet when she first opened the gift, she finally took notice of all 5 of the stones on the bracelet. A Turquoise, amethyst, topaz, emerald and an opal, a birthstone for every member of their family. Claire was beginning to understand a little where her daughter was coming from. 

Just as Claire was about to call Faith over to her, Fergus went over to Faith who was still sitting on Jamie’s lap.

“Faith, I thank you, for your concern, but I am used to it by now, and your family has given me such a great day. The only thing that will make me sad is when I will have to leave all of you, not some silly bracelet.”

Although this cheered Faith up some, she still felt a little sad. “But I don’t want you to have to leave and go back to being here. Da, can’t Fergus just stay with us?

“Aye, Da, Fergus should stay with us.” Bree added in support of her sister, while Willie started chanting “Gus! Gus! Gus!”

“Faith, it’s a little more complicated.” Jamie started trying to explain “As much as we would love to just have Fergus stay, it doesna work like that.”

“It is okay Faith, I will never forget this day, with your family, and that will help me through the times when I feel sad.”

“But I don’t want you to leave.” Faith exclaimed, jumping out of her father’s laugh and running over to hug Fergus. Both Bree and Willie ran over to join the group hug as well. 

Claire and Jamie looked on at their children, showing Fergus all of the love that they were fortunate to be brought up with. Jamie nodded to Claire, allowing her to share the news with the kids. 

Claire cleared her throat to get all of the kids attention. “Although Fergus does have to go back tonight, we do hope that he will be able to come back and visit us often.” 

Faith, Bree and Willie broke off from their hug with Fergus and cheered, but Fergus looked worriedly at Claire and Jamie, too afraid to hope for what this could mean. “Are you saying…” Fergus trailed off. 

Both Claire and Jamie and nodded. “Yes, Fergus we have already talked to your social worker. It will still take some time to get everything in order, but we would like you to come and live with us. We want to foster you. And if everything works out and everyone is happy with the arrangement, when the time comes we would like to adopt you and have you join our family, though after today, I feel that you are already part of our family.”

Fergus was choking up, he had never experienced the love that he felt with this family, and couldn’t wait to join them officially. He rushed over to Jamie and Claire not caring at all what he looked like an grabbed them both in a hug. The other kids now wanting to be left out ran over to join in the group hug too. 

Claire looked up from the group hug and into Jamie’s eyes. “This has been the best birthday ever, thank you.” 

“No Claire, thank you, for being the best mother you could ever be to all of our children.” 

One year later, with Fergus’s adoption into the family official, Faith gave her mother the final piece to her perfect present, a sapphire for Fergus.


End file.
